Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Northwestern University engineers have developed a new soft, flexible device that makes robots move by expanding and contracting — just like a human muscle. To demonstrate their new device, called an actuator, the researchers used it to create a cylindrical, worm-like soft robot and an...
Astronomers find missing link in massive black hole formation
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Omega Centauri is a spectacular collection of 10 million stars, visible as a smudge in the night sky from Southern latitudes. Through a small telescope, it looks no different from other so-called globular clusters; a spherical stellar collection so dense towards the center that it...
Simulating blood flow dynamics for improved nanoparticle drug delivery
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Despite gaining a bad rap in mainstream media in recent years, nanoparticles have been successfully used for decades in targeted drug delivery systems. Drug molecules can be encapsulated within biodegradable nanoparticles to be delivered to specific cells or diseased tissues. However, blood flow dynamics can...
On the way to emission-free mining: extracting metals with microorganisms
Jul 10, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Microorganisms work in an underground bioreactor and convert ores or residual materials from mining into the valuable metals copper, indium and zinc. Innovative membrane filters then filter the valuable metals from the resulting process water. In a pilot plant of a current mining project near...
Building materials for water-rich planets in the early solar system
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Age data for certain classes of meteorite have made it possible to gain new findings on the origin of small water-rich astronomical bodies in the early solar system. These so-called planetesimals continually supplied building materials for planets – also for the Earth, whose original material...
Micro-oscillator symphony: stochastic resonance in nanotech
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Rapid and reliable molecular detection is now within reach, thanks to micro- and nano-electro-mechanical systems, essential for disease diagnostics. Yet, the presence of stochastic noise and nonlinear behaviors pose challenges that hinder optimization. Addressing these issues, there's a pressing demand for sophisticated modeling to forecast...
crafting 2D nanostructures for advanced materials
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Creating periodic nanostructures is vital for progress in material science and nanotechnology. Traditional methods often struggle with complexity and scalability. Integrating bottom-up self-assembly of block molecules with top-down lithography offers a solution, enabling the formation of sophisticated nanostructures. These challenges necessitate innovative approaches to fabricate...
Moving from the visible to the infrared: Developing high quality nanocrystals
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, quantum dots have a wide variety of applications ranging from displays and LED lights to chemical reaction catalysis and bioimaging. These semiconductor nanocrystals are so small – on the order of nanometers – that their properties, such as...
Laser and 2D materials enable novel plastic breakdown for recycling
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) A global research team led by Texas Engineers has developed a way to blast the molecules in plastics and other materials with a laser to break them down into their smallest parts for future reuse. The discovery, which involves laying these materials on top of...
Researchers aim for smaller chip features using new materials and advanced modeling
Jul 09, 2024 (Nanowerk News) Researchers at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are applying their expertise in physics, chemistry and computer modeling to create the next generation of computer chips, aiming for processes and materials that will produce chips with smaller features. “All of our existing electronic devices use chips...